


A New Start

by aperfectpearl (dimensionhoppingrose)



Series: BisPearl Week 2019 [7]
Category: Steven Universe - Fandom
Genre: Banter, F/F, Flirting, Fluff, Friendship, pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-05 02:24:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17910179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dimensionhoppingrose/pseuds/aperfectpearl
Summary: Bismuth's first fight with a corrupted gem ends... messily. Pearl tries to help in the aftermath.





	A New Start

**Author's Note:**

> BisPearl Week Day 7: A Sticky Situation
> 
> This week has been so much fun XD I think it's the first time I've actually completed a celebratory week for anyone/any pairing/etc. Enjoy!

“Ow, be careful, wouldcha?”

“I’m barely pulling.”

“I don’t see why I can’t just stick my head in lava.”

“I don’t want to find out how this… goop would react to lava.”

Bismuth all but pouted, glaring across the room. Pearl was sitting on the counter behind her, trying to cut out some weird, sticky, disgusting substance she had gotten splattered in while monster hunting.

“I _told_ you to back away,” Pearl said, carefully pulling at strands of hair so she could cut the stuff out and hopefully not take Bismuth’s hair in the process.

“How was I supposed to know it was going to explode?” Bismuth asked, crossing her arms defiantly. “That’s not a normal gem thing!”

“Corrupted gems aren’t normal gems. We had Nephrites who could spit acid, one that could control sand, a giant puffer fish, and I still haven’t figured out who _that_ one was, a bird that turned into smaller birds when you attacked it-”

“Okay, okay, I get it,” Bismuth huffed. “Next time I’ll defer to you.”

Pearl smiled, snipping at another piece of goo and tossing it into the sink next to her. “We’re not fighting a war anymore, Bismuth. It’s not deferring, it’s trust each other and using what we know to work together.”

 _Stars…_ she had changed so much. It baffled Bismuth. Pearl snipped at another bit of goo, and returned to pulling Bismuth’s hair apart. “At least it’s not as bad as Amethyst. She used to have short hair, you know, that made it a bit easier to manage when she inevitably got something disgusting in it. Not that she ever sat still long enough for me to clean it. But then she decided she wanted _long_ hair and I just gave up.”

“You? Give up?” Bismuth teased. “I don’t believe it.”

“You didn’t have to deal with Amethyst during her wild days,” Pearl pointed out, grabbing the scissors to cut again. “She’s grown so much. I doubt she’d let me clean her hair if she got something in it, though. And _Steven_ , stars, I’m glad he never tried to imitate Greg. Or Rose for that matter. It felt he was coming home covered in mud or something every other day for the longest time. And of course, his hair is darker so it made trying to clean him up such a pain, and meanwhile he was getting it all over the house-”

She broke off when Bismuth tried, and failed, to muffle a laugh. “What?”

“Nothing, nothing.” Pearl scowled, grabbing a lock of Bismuth’s hair and giving it a sharp, intentional tug. “Ow! Okay, all right, it’s just… listening to you. It’s funny.”

“What’s so funny about it?”

“Well, you know, Greg was hanging around a lot while I was working on the house, and he was telling me stories about when Steven was younger – after he explained the whole being born and growing up thing. You sound just like him. Like you’re Steven’s mom.”

Pearl was glad Bismuth couldn’t see the bright blue blush across her face. “W-Well, that’s just ridiculous, isn’t it? He has a mother already.”

“Does he? I mean, yeah, Rose passed on her gem and all that, but what’s she really done for him besides leave a ton of problems he thought he was responsible for?” Pearl focused on Bismuth’s hair, not answering. “Look, I know the whole Rose was Pink Diamond thing made things a little complicated-”

“No, it didn’t,” Pearl said simply. “Rose wasn’t Pink Diamond.”

Bismuth blinked a few times, trying to process this frankly ludicrous statement. Had they scrambled Pearl’s mind on Homeworld? “Ummm, Pearl?”

She sighed, still focused on Bismuth’s hair. “I know it doesn’t make sense to you, but I have to keep them separate. I served Pink Diamond. I admired her in a lot of ways, and she was my friend. But I still served her. I loved Rose. I was equal to Rose. We started the rebellion together. I know Rose was the leader of the rebellion, but a lot of you never saw what I did behind the scenes.”

“After hearing the whole story, I’m pretty sure you were secretly _running_ the rebellion.”

Pearl laughed. “I had a bigger hand in things than anyone ever really knew.”

 _Snip_. “No surprise.” Bismuth stared at the couch, letting Pearl work quietly for a moment. “You said loved.”

“What?” Pearl paused, looking around at Bismuth.

“You said you loved Rose. Past tense.”

Pearl ducked her head, focusing on Bismuth’s hair again. “Well, she’s gone. It’s in the past. I’ve moved on.”

“Yeah? Well, good.” _Snip. Snip. Snip_. “Moved on, moved on?”

 _Snip_. “I suppose so.”

“Good. You’ve got a life to live. You deserve to be happy.” Bismuth twiddled her thumbs, ducking her head…

“Don’t – ack!”

…And remembered that Pearl was cutting goop out of her hair. “What?” Bismuth asked, whipping around.

“It’s not too bad,” Pearl said weakly. She was holding a small strand of hair.

“My fault,” Bismuth said, chuckling. Pearl gave her a faint smile. “Hey, maybe I’ll go short.”

“Oh, don’t do that.” Pearl raised a hand, brushing her fingers through Bismuth’s hair. “I like your hair the way it is.”

“Yeah? I’m pretty fond of it.” Her entire attention was on Pearl’s fingers, which were now ghosting along her cheek.

“Good.”

“Good.”

There was no memory of the seconds between Bismuth saying _good_ and them kissing. Pearl leaned forward slightly, her arms wrapping loosely around Bismuth’s neck, while Bismuth rested her hands on the counter, on either side of Pearl.

Time was laughable to beings that were nearly immortal. And it was laughable right in that moment, as wrapped up in each as they were. They could have stood there forever.

Luckily, Bismuth hadn’t fixed the creaky front door. Pearl pulled back quickly when she heard it opening, looking around Bismuth. Steven was staring at them, wide-eyed (before putting his hand over his eyes) and slack-jawed, and Amethyst had a huge grin, and a light in her eyes that assured Pearl she _would_ be teased about this at some point in time.

“Well.” Pearl coughed, blushing fiercely. “Bismuth, we should really finish getting this gunk out of your hair.”

“Right. Yeah.” Bismuth turned so Pearl could continue her work, and Steven peeked through his fingers to make sure it was safe to look. Amethyst sauntered over, hopping up to sit on the island across from the pair.

“Soooooooooooooooooooo-”

“Amethyst not now.”

“Oh come on!” Amethyst whined. “I can’t walk in on _that_ and not ask!”

Steven wandered up to his bed and flopped down, pulling out his phone to text Connie about this new development. She replied almost immediately.

_WHAT?! Pearl and Bismuth? Wow. I think I’ve seen my parents kiss three times in my entire life. It’s so weird when you walk in on that kind of stuff, isn’t it?_

Steven sat up slightly, looking down at the gems. Amethyst and Pearl were sniping at each other (although it was clearly good-natured) and Bismuth was just grinning.

_A little. But it’s nice to see them happy. Especially Pearl._

“Okay, okay, but like, you guys were in the _rebellion_ together, were you _like this_ then, or-”

“Amethyst!”


End file.
